A line of caution

TO KNOW how many Indians are poor is a desperate pursuit.

- RICHARD MAHAPATRA

Without any official count since 2011-12, and after the much delayed consumption expenditure survey that was released in 2023, it does not seem that an official poverty estimate is underway anytime soon. Consumption expenditure data is used to gauge income, and, ultimately, to draw a poverty line that will help in measuring the poverty level in the country. However, individual economists—mostly associated with government agencies—have used the survey to claim unprecedented poverty over the past decade. These estimates remain unacknowledged by the Union government. Instead, the government now uses multidimensional poverty data (that shows deprivation rather than monetary status) from its think tank NITI Aayog to credit itself with “historic” poverty reduction over the past 10 years.